Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 107 off 60 balls trumped Sunil Narine’s 109 off 56 balls as Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders
Jos Buttler almost single-handedly led Rajasthan Royals to a record-equalling chase of 224 against the Kolkata Knight Riders with anunbeaten 107 off 60 balls.(AFP)
RR’s much vaunted bowling attack managed to keep KKR’s dangerous opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine down. Salt eventually fell in the fourth over due to a stunning catch from Avesh Khan off his own bowling. Narine then managed to make some amends in the remaining two overs and guided KKR to a score of 56/1 in the powerplay. (AP)
Narine equalled the record for the fastest IPL century for a Kolkata Knight Riders player as he took the Rajasthan Royals bowlers, particularly the spin duo Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, to the cleaners. He got to his century in 49 balls, his first ton in any kind of senior cricket. Narine eventually fell to Trent Boult in the 18th over, having smashed 109 in 56 balls.(AFP)
Rinku Singh made a valuable contribuition of 20 off nine balls as KKR scored 223/6 batting first. (AFP)
RR lost two wickets in the powerplay but ended up scoring 76 runs. (IPL)
Narine struck with the ball after his heroics with the bat, dismissing Dhruv Jurel and later Rovman Powell. (AP)
Powell however started RR’s resurgence in the run chase by smashing 26 in 13 balls. (AP)
Buttler found his footing in the death overs and managed to farm strike with tail enders at the other end in the last two overs. He smashing 65 runs in the last 27 balls he faced and led RR to victory in the improbable chase. (AP)